Calling All Black Organizers

By Bill Fletcher, Jr. <bfletcher4@compuserve.com>, November
1999

I recently had a discussion with some folks from the AFL-CIO's Organizing
Department. They have been recruiting organizers into the union movement
through a more than decade old program called the "Organizing Institute".
As part of this program they have visited historically Black colleges and
universities to encourage young African-Americans to consider devoting
themselves to the life of a union organizer.

The results have been complicated and have given me pause.

It's not that they have not been able to recruit young activists. They
have. Rather, the more disconcerting problem which they have encountered
is the prevailing ideology on many of these campuses: instead of
encouraging activism, students are encouraged toward entrepreneurialism.
This should not be particularly surprising since this has been the
dominant theme on Black campuses since time began. What the Organizing
Institute folks found, though, which was disconcerting is a very low level
of political activism generally, and a low sense of `class', that is, a
sense of class struggle and the importance of class, within the general
student body.

There are certainly exceptions. At Jackson State University (Mississippi),
under the leadership of Dr. Leslie McLemore, efforts have been undertaken
to build a labor studies program which unites the African-American
experience with the history of trade unionism in the USA. But Jackson
State is unique. Labor history, and particularly the proud role which
African-Americans have played in working class struggle is all but ignored
on too many of these campuses. One consequence of this is that class, as a
socio-economic category-with profound political implications-is ignored.

I was struck and troubled by the discussion I held with the individuals
from the Organizing Department because we are living through a period
where class is increasing in importance for African-Americans, and where
African-American leaders and organizers are badly needed within the ranks
of organized labor.

Class has always been an important category in the Black experience.
Whether it was internal, e.g., which sections of Black America were
considered leaders [lawyers, doctors, business people, ministers], or
external, in this case the fact that the majority of African-Americans
have been and continue to be working class, Black America has lived with
the reality of class. Nevertheless, the ever present dominance of white
supremacy, particularly during the Jim Crow years, often subordinated
class issues to matters of race. Toward the end of the 1960s, the
situation became more complicated when many of the political victories won
by the Civil Rights Movement held a disproportionate benefit for the Black
middle stratum, and less tangible benefits for the Black working class.

Since the 1960s, and particularly since the late 1970s, there has been a
widening gap within Black America between the rich and the rest of us.
This has mirrored a similar trend within US society as a whole. The
demands and issues of the Black professional-managerial and business
strata have diverged significantly from those of the Black working class.
This is not to say that we have witnessed a declining significance of
race, but to borrow from University of Massachusetts-Boston professor Dr.
James Jennings, we have experienced an increasing significance of `class'.

The increasing significance of class, however, has not been addressed
regularly or precisely within Black America, with the notable exception of
left-wing/radical critiques of political and economic trends. It has
certainly not been addressed on most campuses, including those which are
historically African-American.

One of the implications of our failure to address class within Black
America can be witnessed in struggles which have taken place at Black
Entertainment Television (BET). In the last several years, local unions of
the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) have found
themselves at war with a company management apparently insensitive to the
demands and needs of its workforce. More recently, a struggle ensued over
the fate of comedians (not exclusively Black) who have received a pittance
for their participation in one of BET comedy programs. These struggles
have been all-but ignored in the Black press, with the notable exception
of the coverage offered by the Tom Joyner Morning Show (a nationally
syndicated radio program) of the comedians fight for justice. Within Black
America we get very uneasy discussing issues of class as they play out
within our own experience and among our own people.

In addition to the general importance of class, and why it needs to be
addressed more explicitly within Black America, there is the historic
juncture within organized labor. After years of lethargy, and an
inconsistent fighting spirit, changes are underway within the national
trade union movement. There is a growing awareness that we must either
organize, or we will probably not make it past the first decade of the
21st century. Organizing, particularly given the changing demographics of
the US workforce, means organizing workers of color and women workers.
Within that large and growing group, Black workers can play a decisive
role in shaping the new labor movement.

Let's consider the South. If there is any hope of changing the politics of
the USA, it must be based on reshaping the South. The choke hold which
reactionary politics have had on the South, and the suppression of its
Black population have had a profound impact on the national scene, as is
so graphically illustrated when one examines the Republican majority in
Congress.

In order to overturn this situation, the Southern working class will need
progressive organization, and unionization could prove to key to
transformation. If that is the case, then the unionization of the Black
worker moves to center stage. If for no other reason-and there are other
reasons-than this, Black organizers are desperately needed to help to
unionize the South.

Given this situation of flux, Black organizers and Black working class
leaders can play a critical role in reshaping organized labor. This is not
only a matter of organizing other African-Americans, but increasing our
clout within the trade union movement in order to format the agenda of a
new movement for social and economic justice.

It is this reality which makes the situation on Black campuses, and
specifically, among Black student youth, hold such importance. This is not
an academic question, though it involves academia. It is a question which
goes to the heart, soul and mind of Black America and to the very basic
question of which way forward: the illusion of get-rich-quick via
entrepreneurialism, or the necessity of uniting the African-American
freedom struggle with 21st century class politics.

Bill Fletcher, Jr. is Assistant to the President of the AFL-CIO, as well
as a long-time activist in the Black Freedom Movement.

The views expressed in this article are his own.

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